WO2008034970A1

WO2008034970A1 - Accessory for assisting in drilling a network of radial galleries from the same site situated close to the ground level

Info

Publication number: WO2008034970A1
Application number: PCT/FR2007/001509
Authority: WO
Inventors: Georges Favier
Original assignee: Hades
Priority date: 2006-09-19
Filing date: 2007-09-18
Publication date: 2008-03-27
Also published as: FR2905973B1; FR2905973A1

Abstract

This accessory is intended for digging radial galleries (46, 48) from the same site (12) situated close to the ground level. It comprises a cylindrical or prismatic casing (20) formed by a plurality of sectorial elements (22) which can be uncoupled along generatrices of the casing, such that the sectorial elements can be brought separately and assembled in situ at the drilling site. Each sectorial element is provided with means (28, 30) for assembly to the sectorial elements which are adjacent to it. In the lower part is provided a support (60) which can be freely arranged along the horizontal and provided with a multi-directional frame (58) adapted to receive a drilling machine (50). This multi-directional frame (58) is adjustable in its inclination with respect to the support (60) so that the drilling machine can be positioned in at least one drilling direction (Δ, Δ') inclined with respect to the horizontal.

Description

Accessory aid for drilling a network of radial galleries from the same site located near the ground level

The invention relates to an accessory for assisting in the drilling of a network of radial gates dug from the same site located near the ground level.

The invention applies advantageously, but nevertheless non-limitingly, to the drilling of a network of galleries intended to receive sensors for the capture of the thermal energy of the soil for a heat pump. A heat pump is used to capture the thermal energy available in the upper layers of the earth's crust, to concentrate (bring to higher temperature) this energy and to return it in this concentrated form to supply a heating circuit. The same installation makes it possible, by reversing the appropriate circuits, to supply an air conditioning circuit from frigories captured in the ground.

The installation comprises a pump core with a compressor supplying a refrigerant circuit comprising a condenser, an expander and an evaporator, as well as heat exchangers connected to respective networks for collecting and returning heat (or cold). . In heating mode, the compressor concentrates on the evaporator side the energy captured in the ground and restores the condenser side energy to be returned to the heating circuit. The collection network may in particular comprise a plurality of "sensing son" in which circulates a coolant, generally a liquid such as water added with ethylene glycol which (in heating mode), after having been cooled by the evaporator is sent into the ground to warm up in contact with the surrounding environment, which gives up its thermal energy. The heated fluid returns to the pump which concentrates and returns the thermal energy thus captured.

The capture probe may advantageously be in the form of a flexible tubular element whose one end provides both the inlet and the outlet of the fluid, and the other end is a free end. Such a sensing probe is for example described in US Pat. 5,339,890, as well as in WO-A-2006 / 111,655 in the name of the Applicant (published October 26, 2006).

This configuration makes it possible in particular to introduce the sensor probe by its free part in a gallery opening on the surface by a single point, the tubular burying element being strong enough to be pushed into this gallery over the entire length thereof only at one of its ends. Once introduced into the respective galleries, the sensor sensors are connected in series and / or in parallel and connected to the heat pump. GB-A-717 229 discloses a network of radial galleries dug by means of a drill head lowered into a deep well lined by a casing provided with openings. The document does not, however, give any indication of how the drill head is implemented, particularly as to how it is anchored and guided (horizontally, in this document) from inside the casing.

The invention relates to a different mode of drilling, in which: (i) the galleries are made by directing the drill head in an initial direction of drilling accurately defined to be able to be inclined, or even strongly inclined, with respect to horizontal, and (ii) the drifts are drilled from a point of origin close to ground level (typically a point approximately one meter, at most two, below ground level), and not from a point at the bottom of a deep well - it is precisely, in the context of the invention, to avoid deep drilling. The basic technique is then to form a shallow excavation and dispose of a casing to stabilize the walls of the excavation and to reserve a volume below the ground level, then to drill the radial galleries since this location. It is known to use "eyes", cubic or parallelepiped, when it comes to stabilize the walls of a shallow excavation and reserve a volume below ground level. These views are constituted by a housing, for example reinforced concrete, with several faces possibly dissociable (as described for example in EP-AO 151 905 and US-A-4 145 857) and provided with a removable cover. We also know Cylindrical "well washers" of thick reinforced concrete, generally intended to be stacked over a large height. But these various elements, designed for other purposes, can not be used in the majority of situations encountered when it is desired to create a network of radial galleries for receiving sensor sensors for a heat pump. They do not allow, in particular, drilling in all directions, including inclined drilling, and even more drilled strongly inclined, which would cross the bottom of the casing. The invention aims to provide professionals, including installers of heat pumps, an accessory particularly suitable for digging galleries from a site near the ground level by means of a drill small size comprising a stationary engine block driving a drill head guided along a flexible tube.

These are, for example, miniature or "mole" drills used to pass water pipes under highways or homes without the need to dig an open trench. These drills make it possible to dig very easily and at low cost jewels of several tens of meters in length and a few tens of millimeters in diameter (for example 50 mm in diameter), following if necessary any curved path, adapted to the configuration of the places. The digging of a network of tunnels by means of such a tool entails only a minimum of nuisance, introduces no significant damage to the surrounding terrain and requires only a small hold, which can even locate inside a building.

However, it is important to perfectly position and maintain the engine block at the start of the operation and throughout the duration of the drilling, to be able to obtain a precise progression of the drill head in the direction sought, especially in the case a direction inclined relative to the horizontal.

The object of the invention is to provide a drilling accessory of a radial gallery system which is particularly precise, versatile, inexpensive and which allows in particular: - to easily bring the drilling machine on site and fix it firmly in position, and

to precisely define the drilling direction, in particular a direction of drilling that is inclined relative to the horizontal, the angle of inclination possibly being able to take any chosen value between 0 ° and 90 °.

The object of the invention is also to provide such a drilling accessory which is convenient to implement in a very wide variety of configurations likely to be encountered in practice. Indeed, especially when the drilling is carried out from the basement of a house, it is excluded to handle items of significant weight and volume. However, as indicated, it is interesting to be able to dig the network of galleries from a point located near a house, or even in the basement of it, in a place often not very accessible needing to go through doors, stairs, etc. without hoisting or handling machinery and often by a single person. Similarly, it often happens that the installation must be carried out in a city with inaccessible streets where it is impossible to pass the transport and hoisting machines generally used in the field of public works.

For this, the drilling accessory must meet the following constraints:

- reservation of a space large enough to receive the drill and allow manipulation thereof inside the excavation, - sufficient mass, and sufficient solidarity with the mass of the surrounding soil, for once in place, secure the engine block of the drill and prevent any erratic movement of the drill by reaction;

- equipment light enough to be handled by a single person, without the aid of any lifting machine, and of size to pass through doors, stairs, ...

- Possibility of reusing the drilling site after digging tunnels, to connect together probes placed in these galleries and accommodate a connection box with access to this housing, in the manner of a look. To achieve the aims indicated above, the invention proposes an accessory comprising a cylindrical or prismatic casing formed of a plurality of sectoral elements dissociable along the generatrices of the casing, so that the sectoral elements can be brought separately and assembled on site at the drilling site. Each sectoral element is provided with means of assembly to sectoral elements that are adjacent to it. In the lower part is provided a support that can be freely disposed horizontally and provided with a steerable carriage adapted to receive a drilling machine. This steerable carriage is adjustable in inclination relative to the support, for positioning the drilling machine in at least one drilling direction inclined relative to the horizontal. According to various advantageous subsidiary features:

the mount is orientable in situ with a sufficient amplitude to position the drilling machine both in a lateral drilling direction passing through the casing, and in a downward drilling direction traversing the plane of said support;

- The support is provided with locking members comprising retractable rods extending, in the deployed position, under the casing or through it and then receiving the weight of the latter; - The carriage is provided with a sling adapted to be secured to a fixing disposed on the ground at the periphery of the casing.

the sectoral elements individually weigh less than 40 kg, and are similar and stackable;

- They are made of reinforced concrete, preferably a cellular concrete, or plastic, including a plastic material recovered;

- the sectorial elements are provided on their outer surface of stowage reliefs to the mass of the surrounding soil;

- The assembly means are means for mechanical assembly by bolting mutual homologous parts of adjacent sectoral elements;

- There is provided a cover and / or a horizontal bottom formed of a plurality of dissociable elements.

In a particular embodiment, the casing is provided with at least one frangible weakened zone arranged in a predefined location. nor the wall of a solid sectoral element to form a through opening in the drilling direction of one of said radial galleries. The steerable fairing is then adjustable in inclination with respect to the support for positioning the drilling machine in at least one direction of drilling passing through the casing in the region of said frangible weakened zone.

If the sectoral elements are made of reinforced concrete, the frangible weakened zones are advantageously zones without reinforcement. In addition, the predefined location of the weakened zone can be defined by a closed contour located approximately halfway up the sectorial element, or by an open contour located in the lower part of the sectorial element.

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An embodiment of the device of the invention will now be described with reference to the appended drawings in which the same reference numerals designate identical or functionally similar elements from one figure to another. Figures 1 and 2 show, respectively in elevation and in plan, a network of probes disposed in the ground in the vicinity of a dwelling.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a particular embodiment of the accessory of the invention.

Figure 4 is an elevational view, according to IV-IV of Figure 3, one of the sectoral elements of this accessory according to the invention. Figure 5 is a sectional view of the excavation equipped with the accessory of the invention during drilling operations.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the excavation equipped with the accessory of the invention, after drilling and connection of the various probes for capturing the thermal energy of the soil.

0

FIGS. 1 and 2 show, respectively in elevation and in plan, an array of probes 10 installed in the ground in a configuration comprising, in the example illustrated, five probes 10 introduced in FIG. galleries dug substantially from the same location 12, and which open to the air at only one of their ends. After being introduced into the galleries, the probes 10 are connected together in series and / or in parallel and connected to a heat pump core 14 located in a dwelling 16.

In the illustrated configuration, the array of probes extends underground from the connection point in the manner of tentacles which, in plan (FIG. 2), can assume any shape depending on the requirements of the surrounding terrain, the only limit being the radius of curvature allowed by the tunnel digging machine and the radius of curvature allowed by the probe. At depth (FIG. 1), the array of probes extends to a depth chosen according to the regulation and the thermal characteristics of the soil, typically of the order of 0.5 to 10 m below ground level. that is to say in the subsoil areas likely to have a uniform temperature in any season (of the order of 9 ° C in temperate climate and at low altitude). The mass of ground required for the capture of calories is thus delimited by a three-dimensional volume 18, located at shallow depth and on the right-of-way around the heat pump 14. This capture volume 18 extending to less than 50 cm below ground level, it is possible to implant the probe network even in the presence of trees, or also under the dwelling 16, as can be seen in Figure 2. On this the same figure is also illustrated two probes which, in plan, intersect, which is quite possible because the galleries are not exactly at the same level at this place. It is thus possible to modulate the location and intensity of thermal exchanges with the surrounding environment according to the topographic constraints. The invention relates to an accessory, illustrated in Figures 3 to 6, positioned at the location 12 from which will be drilled the various radial galleries receiving the sensor sensors 10.

This accessory is in the form of a cylindrical or prismatic casing 20 disposed in an excavation at the location of the drilling site 12 so as to be wholly, or mostly, below the ground level in this area. the wall of the casing coming laterally to stabilize the ground at the location of the excavation. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the casing 20 is formed of a plurality of segmental elements 22, for example four identical cylindrical sectoral elements in the illustrated example. These elements 22 comprise a solid wall 24 terminated at each of its ends along generatrices of the cylinder by flanges 26 provided with orifices 28 extending in the tangential direction in a radial plane. The flanges 26 of the adjoining elements are intended to be applied edge to edge, so as to allow the alignment of the respective orifices 28 for the insertion of a fastening bolt such as 30. This allows the assembly of the casing to from a plurality of elements assembled along generators. The presence of a background is not necessary.

Each item, taken individually, can be easily handled by one person and transported without difficulty through doors, stairs, etc. Moreover, with identical sectoral elements, these can be stacked on top of each other for storage, thus with virtually no dead volume inside, with all the advantages that result in terms of ease and cost of storage and storage. transport. The attachment of the sectoral elements to each other by bolting is given for illustrative purposes only, and many other methods of attachment can be envisaged, adapting the shape of the elements as necessary: pin or key systems, interlocking cooperating forms reported metal tabs embedded in the element material, etc. Moreover, many configurations can be envisaged as an alternative to that, illustrated, comprising four elements in the form of circular sectors. Thus, the sectoral elements may be approximately planar, the casing being then of prismatic shape after assembly. We can also increase the number of elements, if we want to reduce the unit size of each of them. The material of the elements is advantageously a reinforced concrete, in particular a cellular concrete, or a plastic material, advantageously a plastic material of recovery.

Preferably, the unit weight of each of the elements is less than 40 kg, so that it can be transported and handled by a single person without accessory or lifting machine. Once assembled, the casing has a typical useful diameter of about 1.50 m, for a height of the order of 0.75 to 1.00 m. Very advantageously, the outer wall of the sectorial elements, instead of being smooth, is provided with projecting protrusions or pines, allowing the casing to be rammed with the mass of the surrounding soil after the space remaining between the excavation and the casing was filled with earth. The sectoral elements 22, or at least some of them, are provided with one or more weakened zones such as 32, 34, which make it possible to open the solid wall 22 by breaking the material there. In the case of an element made of reinforced concrete, the weakened zones 32, 34 may in particular be zones without reinforcement and whose wall thickness 36 (FIG. 3) is reduced, for example a thickness of less than 0, 5 cm. In the example shown, the sectoral elements are identical and each comprise a first weakened zone 32 of closed circular contour 38, located approximately halfway up the element, and a second weakened zone 34 of open contour 40, of semicircular shape extended to the lower edge by rectilinear segments, in the lower part of the sectoral element 22. It will now be explained, with reference to Figures 5 and 6, the manner in which this accessory according to the invention is used.

After digging the excavation at the location of the drilling site 12, the individual sectoral elements 22 are assembled together to form the cylindrical casing 20, which is disposed in the excavation as shown in FIG.

Then the space between the excavation and the casing is filled with earth, so as to secure the casing with the mass of the surrounding ground made homogeneous. This stowage effect is further increased if the outer wall of the sectorial elements of reliefs or protruding pins is provided. Some of the weakened areas are broken, so as to provide openings 42, 44 at selected locations, from which will be drilled corresponding radial galleries such as 46, 48. The bore itself is operated by means of a machine 50 comprising a motor block 52 driving a drill head 54 guided along a tube flexible 56. The machine is placed on a steerable carriage 58 adjustable in height and inclination relative to a fixed support 60. Advantageously, the support 60 is provided with locking members 62 of the bolt type, comprising retractable rods 64 ' extending, in the deployed position, under the casing or through it (by locally breaking the wall in a frangible zone) and then receiving the weight of the latter.

The support 60 will then be plated vertically, via the spikes 62, on the bottom of the excavation by the weight of the casing which bears on the threads 64 and thus provides a very high stability avoiding any erratic movement, movement or recoil of the machine 50 during drilling. Moreover, the carriage 58 is steerable in site with an amplitude sufficient to define both a lateral drilling direction Δ passing through the casing 20 in the region of the frangible zones, a downward drilling direction Δ 'passing through the plane of the support 60, that is to say with a drilling direction that can vary substantially from horizontal to vertical.

The first case corresponds to the position of the carriage shown at 58 in solid lines in FIG. 5, where the flexible tube 56 passes through an opening 44 provided in the region of one of the frangible zones.

The second case corresponds to the position of the carriage shown in 66 in dashed lines in FIG. 5, where the drilling is done directly in the bottom of the excavation, with a starting angle of the flexible tube 68 very close to the vertical. If necessary, to increase the stability of the carriage 58, it can be provided with a sling 70 secured to a fastener 72 disposed on the ground at the periphery of the casing.

The galleries are thus successively excavated, positioning each time the machine facing the corresponding opening formed in the wall of the casing 20 (lateral start drilling), and / or facing the bottom of the excavation (vertical starting drilling) .

Once drilled the different galleries of the network, they are equipped with their respective probes. As illustrated in FIG. 6, after removal of the drilling machine, the internal volume of the casing 20 can be used to house a connection box. dente various probes together, schematized by the functional block 74. This housing is also provided with conduits 76, 78 connecting the probe array to the pump core.

The assembly may be closed by a cover 80, preferably a cover made of several elements such as 82, 84 so as to allow easy handling of the cover even by a single man. The lid is provided with a central opening 86 for the passage of the pipes 76, 78 for connection to the pump core.

Claims

1. An accessory for drilling a network of radial galleries (46, 48) dug substantially from the same site (12) located near the ground level, this accessory being characterized in that it includes:

- a cylindrical or prismatic casing (20) formed of a plurality of segmental elements (22) dissociable along the generatrices of the casing, so that the sectorial elements can be brought separately and assembled on site at the drilling site, each element sectoral being provided with means (28, 30) for joining adjacent sectoral elements, and - in the lower part, a support (60) freely movable horizontally and provided with a steerable carriage (58). adapted to receive a drilling machine (50), said steerable carriage (58) being adjustable in inclination with respect to the support (60), for positioning the drilling machine in at least one drilling direction (Δ, Δ ') inclined by horizontally.

2. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the mount (58) is steerable in elevation sufficient to position the drilling machine in a transverse (Δ) traversing direction. the casing (20), only in a direction of drilling down (Δ ¹ ) passing through the plane of said support (60).

3. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein said holder (60) is provided with locking members (62) comprising retractable rods (64) extending, in the deployed position, under the casing or through it and then receiving the weight of the latter.

4. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the carriage (58) is further provided with a sling (70) adapted to be secured to a fastener (72) disposed on the ground at the periphery of the casing. .

5. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are individually weighing less than 40 kg.

6. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are like and stackable elements.

7. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are of reinforced concrete, preferably a cellular concrete.

8. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are made of plastic, including a plastic material recovered.

9. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are provided on their outer surface reliefs to the ground of the surrounding soil.

10. The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein the assembly means (28, 30) is a means for mechanical joining by bolting mutual homologous portions (26) of adjacent sectoral elements.

The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, further comprising a cover (70) and / or a horizontal bottom formed of a plurality of separable elements (72, 74).

The drilling aid accessory of claim 1, wherein:

the casing (20) is provided with at least one frangible weakened zone (32, 34) formed at a predefined location of the wall of a solid sectorial element (22) to form a through-opening (42, 44) therein the drilling direction of one of said radial galleries (46, 48), and

the steerable carriage (58) is adjustable in inclination with respect to the support (60) for positioning the drilling machine in at least one direction drilling (Δ) passing through the casing (20) in the region of said frangible embrittled zone (42, 44).

13. The drilling aid accessory of claim 12, wherein the sectoral elements (22) are made of reinforced concrete, the frangible weakened zones (32,

34) being areas devoid of reinforcement.

The drilling aid accessory of claim 12, wherein said predefined location of the weakened zone (32) is defined by a closed contour (38) located approximately midway up the sectoral element.

The drilling aid accessory of claim 12, wherein said predefined location of the weakened zone (34) is defined by an open contour (40) located in the lower portion of the sectoral element.